Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The pelican feeding her young with her blood is a prominent symbol of the eighteenth or Rose Croix degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and was adopted as such from the fact that the pelican, in ancient Christian art, was considered as an emblem of the Savior, is almost universally supposed to be derived from the common belief that the pelican feeds her young with her blood, as the Savior shed his blood for mankind; and hence the bird is always represented as sitting on her nest, and surrounded by her brood of young ones, who are dipping their bills into a wound in their mother's brest. But this is not the exact idea of the symbolism, which really refers to the resurrection and is, in this point of view, more applicable to our Lord., as well as to the Masonic degree of which the resurrection is a doctrine.

In an ancient Bestiarium, or Natural History, in the Royal Library at Brussels, cited by Larwood and Hottren in a recent work on The History of Sign Boards, this statement is made: "The pelican is very fond of his young ones, and when they are born and begin to grow, they rebel in their nest against their parent, and strike him with their wings, flying about him, and beat him so much till they wound him in eyes. Then the father strikes and kills them. And the mother is of such a nature that she comes back to the nest on the third day, and sits down upon her dead young ones, and opens her side with her bill and pours her blood over them, and so resuscitates them from death; for the young ones, by their instinct, recieve the blood as soon as it comes out of the mother, and drink it."

The Ortus Vocabulorum, compiled early in the fifteenth century, gives the fable more briefly: "It is said, if it be true, that the pelican kills its young, and grieves for them for three days. Then she wounds herself, and with the aspersione of her blood resuscitates her children." And the writer cites, in explanation, the verses,

i.e., "As the Pelican is restored by the blood of its mother, so are we all born by the blood of the Holy One," that is, of Christ.

St. Jerome gives the same story as an illustration of the destruction of man by the old serpent, and his salvation by the blood of Christ. And Shelton, in an old work entitled the Armorie of Birds, expresses thr same sentiment in the following words:

"Then said the pelican,When my birds be slain,With my blood I them recieve;Scripture doth recordThe same did our Lord,And rose from death to life."

the romantic story was religously believed as a fact of natural history in the earliest ages of the church. Hence the pelican was naturally adopted as a symbol of the ressurrection and, by consequence, of him whose resurrection is, as Cruden terms it, "the cause, pattern, and argument of ours."

But in the course of time the original legend was, to some extent, corrupted, and a simpler one was adipted, namely, that the pelican fed her yung young with her own blood merely as a means of sustenance, and the act of maternal love was then referred to Christ as shedding his blood for the sins of the world. In this view of the symbolism, Pugin has said that the pelican is "an emblem of our Blessed Lord sheddig his blood for mankind, and therefore amost appropiate symbol to be introduced on sll vessels or ornaments connected with the Blessed Sacrament." And in the Antiquities of Durham Abbey, we learn that "over the high altar of Durham Abbey hung a rich and most sumptous canopy for the Blessed Sacrament to hang within it, where on stood a pelican, all of silver, upon the height of the said canopy, very finely gilt, giving her blood to her young ones, in token that Christ gave his blood for the sins of the world."

But I think the thrue theory of the pelican is, that by restoring her young ones to life by her blood, she symbolizes the resurrection. The old symbologists said, after Jerome, that the male pelican, who destroyed his young, reprents the serpent, or evil principle, which brought death into the world; while the mother resuscitates them, is the representative of that Son of Man of whom it is declared, "except ye drink of his blood, ye have no life in you."

And hence the pelican is very apropiately assumed as asymbol in Masonry, whose great object is to teach symbolism the doctrine of the resurrection, and especially in that sublime degree of the Scottish Rite wherein, the old Temple being destroyed and the old Word being lost, a new temple and a new word spring forth - all of which is but the great allegory of the the destruction by death and the resurrection to eternal life. (i..e. Destroy Clan Mother humanity to bring about the New Race the New Psuedo Hermaphrodite.)

Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

A hint can be derived by the journey's beginner who also studies nature, and more specifically, the daily routines of shrubs, sand, ants, bees, butterflies, badgers, sheep, goats and honey guides.

The was among the Egyptians the symbol of an obedient people, because says Horapollo, of all animals, the bee alone had a king. Hence, looking at the regulated labor of these insects when congregated in their hive, it is not surprising that a beehive should have been deemed an appropriate emblem of systematized industry. Freemasonry has therefore adopted the beehive as a symbol of industry, a virtue taught in the ritual, which says that a Master Mason "works that he may receive wages, the better to support himself and family, and contribute to the relief of a worthy, distressed brother widow and orphans;" all Masons shall work honestly on working days, that they may live creditably on holidays." There seems, however to be a more recondite meaning connected with this symbol. The ark has already been shown to have been an emblem common to Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries, as a symbol of regeneration - of the second birth from death to life. Now, in the Mysteries, a hive was a type of ark. "Hence," says faber, (Orig. of Pag. Idol., vol. ii., 133,) "both the diluvian priestesses and the regenerated souls were called bees; hence, bees were feigned to be produced from the carcase of a cow, which also symbolized the ark; and hence, as the great father was esteemed an infernal god, honey was much used in funeral rites and in the Mysteries."

Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

A hint can be derived by the journey's beginner who also studies nature, and more specifically, the daily routines of shrubs, sand, ants, bees, butterflies, badgers, sheep, goats and honey guides.

Eternal -

1. Without beginning or end of existence.

2. Without end; everlasting; endless.

3. Perpetual; ceaseless.

4. Existing at all times without change; immutable. The Deity; God

Eternity -

1. Condition of being eternal.

2. Condition which begins at death.

"Man's conception of eternity is that of infinite duration, continuance without beginning or end, and yet everything he knows is bounded by two or more opposites. From a beginning, as he sees a form of matter, that substance passes to an end." Thus spoke my guide.

Then he asked, and showed by his question that he appreciated the nature of my recent experiences: "Do you recall the instant that you left me standing by this bowl to start, as you imagined, with me as a companion, on the journey to the cavern of the grotesque?"

"No; because I did not leave you. I sipped of the liquid, and then you moved on with me from this spot; we were together, until at last we were separated on the edge of the cave of drunkards."

"Listen," said he; "I neither left you nor went with you. Yon. neither went from this spot nor came back again. You neither saw nor experienced my presence nor my absence; there was no beginning to your journey."

"Go on."

"You ate of the narcotic fungus; you have been intoxicated."

"I have not," I retorted. "I have been through your accursed caverns, and into hell beyond. I have been consumed by eternal damnation in the journey, have experienced a heaven of delight, and also an eternity of misery."

"Upon the contrary, the time that has passed since you drank the liquid contents of that fungus fruit has only been that which permitted you to fall upon your knees. You swallowed the liquor when I handed you the shell cup; you dropped upon your knees, and then instantly awoke. See," he said; "in corroboration of my assertion the shell of the fungus fruit at your feet is still dripping with the liquid you did not drink. Time has been annihilated. Under the influence of this potent earth-bred narcoto-intoxicant, your dream begun inside of eternity; you did not pass into it."

"You say," I interrupted, "that I dropped upon my knees, that I have experienced the hallucination of intoxication, that the experiences of my vision occurred during the second of time that was required for me to drop upon my knees."

"Yes."

"Then by your own argument you demonstrate that eternity requires time, for even a millionth part of a second is time, as much so as a million of years."

"You mistake," he replied, "you misinterpret my words. I said that all you experienced in your eternity of suffering and. pleasure, occurred between the point when you touched the fungus fruit to your lips, and that when your knees struck the stone."

"That consumed time," I answered.

"Did I assert," he questioned, "that your experiences were scattered over that entire period?"

No."

"May not all that occurred to your mind have been crushed into the second that accompanied the mental impression produced . by the liquor, or the second of time that followed, or any other part of that period, or a fraction of any integral second of that period?"

"I can not say," I answered, "what part of the period the hallucination, as you call it, occupied."

"You admit that so far as your conception of time is concerned, the occurrences to which you refer may have existed in either an inestimable fraction of the first, the second, or the third part of the period."

"Yes," I replied, "yes; if you are correct in that, they were illusions."

"Let me ask you furthermore," he said; "are you sure that the flash that bred your hallucination was not instantaneous, and a part of neither the first, second, nor third second?"

"Continue your argument."

"I will repeat a preceding question with a slight modification. May not all that occurred to your mind have been crushed into the space between the second of time that preceded the mental impression produced by the liquor, and the second that followed it? Need it have been a part of either second, or of time at all? Indeed, could it have been a part of time if it were instantaneous?"

"Go on."

"Suppose the entity that men call the soul of man were in process of separation from the body. The process you will admit would occupy time, until the point of liberation was reached. Would not dissolution, so far as the separation of matter and spirit is concerned at its critical point be instantaneous?"

I made no reply.

"If the critical point is instantaneous, there would be no beginning, there could be no end. Therein rests an eternity greater than man can otherwise conceive of, for as there is neither beginning nor end, time and space are annihilated. The line that separates the soul that is in the body from the soul that is out of the body is outside of all things. It is a between, neither a part of the nether side nor of the upper side; it is outside the here and the here-after. Let us carry this thought a little further," said he. "Suppose a good man were to undergo this change, could not all that an eternity of happiness might offer be crushed into this boundless conception, the critical point? All that a mother craves in children dead, could reappear again in their once loved forms; all that a good life earns, would rest in the soul's experience in that eternity, but not as an illusion, although no mental pleasure, no physical pain is equal to that of hallucinations. Suppose that a vicious life were ended, could it escape the inevitable critical point? Would not that life in its previous journey create its own sad eternity? You have seen the working of an eternity with an end but not a beginning to it, for you can not sense the commencement of your vision. You have been in the cavern of the grotesque,—the realms of the beautiful, and have walked over the boundless sands that bring misery to the soul, and have, as a statue, seen the frozen universe dissolve. You are thankful that it was all an illusion as you deem it now; what would you think had only the heavenly part been spread before yon?"

"I would have cursed the man who dispelled the illusion," I answered.

"Then," he said, "you are willing to admit that men who so live as to gain such an eternity, be it mental illusion, hallucination or real, make no mistake in life."

"I do," I replied; "but you confound me when you argue in so cool a manner that eternity may be everlasting to the soul, and yet without the conception of time."

"Did I not teach you in the beginning of this journey," he interjected, "that time is not as men conceive it. Men can not grasp an idea of eternity and retain their sun bred, morning and evening, conception of time. Therein lies their error. As the tip of the whip-lash passes with the lash, so through life the soul of man proceeds with the body. As there is a point just when the tip of the whip-lash is on the edge of its return, where all motion of the line that bounds the tip ends, so there is a motionless point when the soul starts onward from the body of man. As the tip of the whip-lash sends its cry through space, not while it is in motion either way, but from the point where motion ceases, the spaceless, timeless point that lies between the backward and the forward, so the soul of man leaves a cry (eternity) at the critical point. It is the death echo, and thus each snap of the life-thread throws an eternity, its own eternity, into eternity's seas, and each eternity is made up of the entities thus cast from the critical point. With the end of each soul's earth journey, a new eternity springs into existence, occupying no space, consuming no time, and not conflicting with any other, each being exactly what the soul-earth record makes it, an eternity of joy (heaven), or an eternity of anguish (hell). There can be no neutral ground."

Then he continued:

"The drunkard is destined to suffer in the drunkard's eternity, as you have suffered; the enticement of drink is evanescent, the agony to follow is eternal. You have seen that the sub-regions of earth supply an intoxicant. Taste not again of any intoxicant; let your recent lesson be your last. Any stimulant is an enemy to man, any narcotic is a fiend. It destroys its victim, and corrupts the mind, entices it into pastures grotesque, and even pleasant at first, but destined to eternal misery in the end. Beware of the eternity that follows the snapping of the life-thread of a drunkard. Come," he abruptly said, "we will pursue our journey."

[NOTE.—Morphine, belladonna, hyoscyamus and cannabis indica are narcotics, and yet each differs in its action from the others. Alcohol and methyl alcohol are intoxicants; ether, chloroform, and chloral are anæsthetics, and yet no two are possessed of the same qualities. Is there any good reason to doubt that combinations of the elements as yet hidden from man can not cause hallucinations that combine and intensify the most virulent of narcotics, intoxicants, and anæsthetics, and pall the effects of hashish or of opium?

If, in the course of experimentation, a chemist should strike upon a compound that in traces only would subject his mind and drive his pen to record such seemingly extravagant ideas as are found in the hallucinations herein pictured, would it not be his duty to bury the discovery from others, to cover from mankind the existence of such a noxious fruit of the chemist's or pharmaceutist's art? Introduce such an intoxicant, and start it to ferment in humanity's blood, and before the world were advised of its possible results, might not the ever increasing potency gain such headway as to destroy, or debase, our civilization, and even to exterminate mankind?—J. U. L.]

Stressing hygiene and health, it showed various state-approved short hairstyles including the "flat-top crew cut," "middle hairstyle," "low hairstyle," and "high hairstyle" - variations from one to five centimetres in length.

The programme allowed men aged over 50 seven centimetres of upper hair to cover balding.

It stressed the "negative effects" of long hair on "human intelligence development", noting that long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy.

Men should get a haircut every 15 days, it recommended.

Named and shamed

A second, and unprecedented, TV series this winter showed hidden-camera style video of "long-haired" men in various locations throughout Pyongyang.

Hair is a very important issue that shows the people's cultural standards and mental and moral state

Minju Choson newspaper

In a break with North Korean TV's usual approach, the programme gave their names and addresses, and challenged the fashion victims directly over their appearance.

The North Korean media normally reserves the reporting of names of its citizens to exemplary individuals who show high communist virtues.

The series was shot at various public locations - on the street, at a sports stadium, a barbershop, a bus stop, a restaurant, a department store.

Some unruly-haired pedestrians or customers captured on camera "meanly ran away", the programme said, while others made excuses about being too busy to get a trim.

Television newsreels such as "Employees of Pyongyang Textile Plant keep their hairstyle and dressing neat and tidy" and "Hairdressers at Ch'anggwangwo'n manage men's hair according to the demands of the military-first era" have also aired.

What not to wear

State radio programmes such as "Dressing in accordance with our people's emotion and taste" link clothes and appearance with the wearer's "ideological and mental state".

People who wear other's style of dress and live in other's style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin

Nodong Sinmun newspaper

Tidy attire "is important in repelling the enemies' manoeuvres to infiltrate corrupt capitalist ideas and lifestyle and establishing the socialist lifestyle of the military-first era," the radio says.

Newspapers too highlight the civic advantages of short hair and smart shoes.

Hair is a "very important issue that shows the people's cultural standards and mental and moral state", argues Minju Choson, a government daily.

"No matter how good the clothes, if one does not wear tidy shoes, one's personality will be downgraded."

For party papers such as Nodong Sinmun, the struggle against foreign and anti-communist influence is being fought out in the arena of personal appearance.

"People who wear other's style of dress and live in other's style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin," it says.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Zarathustra has seen many lands and many peoples: thus he has discovered the good and evil of many peoples. Zarathustra has found no greater power on earth than good and evil.

No people could live without first valuing; if a people will maintain itself, however, it must not value as its neighbor values.

Much that seemed good to one people was regarded with scorn and contempt by another: thus I found. I found much that was called evil in one place was in another decked with purple honors.

One neighbor never understood another: his soul always marveled at his neighbor's madness and wickedness.

A tablet of the good hangs over every people. Behold, it is the tablet of their overcomings; behold, it is the voice of their will to power.

Whatever seems difficult to a people is praiseworthy; what is indispensable and difficult is called good; and whatever relives the greatest need, the rarest, the most difficult of all - they call holy.

Whatever makes them rule and conquer and shine, to the dread and envy of their neighbors, that is to them the high, the first, the measure, the meaning of all things.

Truly, my brother, if you only knew a people's need and land and sky and neighbor, you could surely divine the law of its overcomings, and why it climbs up the ladder to its hope.

"You should always be the first to outrival all others: your jealous soul should love no one, unless it be the friend" - that made the soul of a Greek quiver: thus he walked the path of his greatness.

"To speak the truth to handle bow and arrow well" - this seemed both dear and difficult to the people from whom I got my name - the name which is both dear and difficult to me.

"To honor father and mother, and from the root of the soul to do their will" - another people hung this tablet of overcoming over itself and became powerful and eternal thereby.

"To practice loyalty, and for the sake of loyalty to risk honor and and blood even in evil and dangerous things" - another people mastered itself with this teaching, and thus mastering itself it became pregant and heavy with great hopes.

Truly, men have given to themselves all their good and evil. Truly, they did not take it, they did not find it, it did noot come to them as a voice from heaven.

Only man assigned values to things in order to maintain himself - he created the meaning of things, a human meaning! Therefore, calls he himself: "Man," that is: the evaluator.

Evaluation is creation: hear this, you creators! Valuation itself is of all valued things the most valuable treasure.

Through valuation only is there value; and without valuation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear this, you creators!

Change of values - that is a change of creators. Whoever must be a creator always destroys.

First, peoples were creators; and only in later times, individuals. Truly, the individual himself is still the lastest creation.

Once peoples hung a tablet of the good over themselves. Love which would rule and love which would obey have together created such tablets.

Joy in the herd is older than joy in the "I": and as long as the good conscience is identified with the herd, only the bad conscience says "I".

Truly, the cunning "I", the loveless one, that seeks its advantage in the advantage of many - that is not the origin of the herd, but its going under.

Good and evil have always been created by lovers and creators. The fire of love glows in the name of all the virtues and the fire of wrath.

Zarathustra has seen many lands and many peoples: Zarathustra has found no greater power on earth than the works of the lovers - "good" and "evil" are their names.

Truly, this power of praising and blaming is a monster. Tell me, O brothers, who will subdue it for me? Tell me, who will throw a yoke upon the thousand necks of this beast?

A thousand goals have been so far, for a thousand peoples have there been. Only the yoke for the thousand necks is still lacking: the one goal is lacking. As yet humanity has no goal.

But tell me, my brothers, if the goal of humanity is still lacking, is there not also still lacking -humanity itself?-

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Meet my original parent -- the OGRE God of the Underworld (KSOTI)I AM A REGO "ANGE DE MERDE" FROM CRO MAGNON AT 40,000 BC

Coprolite is the fossilized excrement of mammals and other animals.

The discovery of the true nature of this material was made by theEnglish geologist William Buckland, who observed that certain convoluted bodies occurring in the Lias (rock strata of Early Jurassic age, 187 to 208 million years old) of Gloucestershire had a form that would have been produced by their passage in the soft state through the intestines of reptiles or fishes.

These bodies had long been known as fossil fir cones and bezoar stones.

Buckland's conjecture that they were of fecal origin and similar to theexcrement of hyenas was confirmed on analysis; they were found toconsist essentially of calcium phosphate and carbonate and notinfrequently contained fragments of unaltered bone.

The name coprolites (from Greek kopros, "dung"; and lithos, "stone") was accordingly given them by Buckland.

Treating similar cave-dweller dung with PTB released fragments ofmitochondrial DNA -- presumably shed via intestinal cells -- which wereused to identify what mammal left the coprolite behind and then use theDNA to clone living people just like me....and you.

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, I have received a man from the Lord.

2 And she again gave birth, to his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the soil.

3 And in the process of time Cain brought an offering unto the Lord of the fruit of the soil.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of them. And the Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering;

5 But of Cain and his offering, He was not pleased. And Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

6 And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen?

7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lurking at the door. And to you will be its desiring, but you can rule over it.

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother; and later when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and killed him.

9 And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, I do not know; Am I my brother's keeper?10 And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the soil.

11 And now you are cursed more than the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand;

12 When you till the soil it will not again yield to you its abundance; a fugitive and a vagabond will you be on the earth.

13 And Cain said to the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear.

14 Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of the soil; and from Your face will I be hidden; and I will be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth; and it will happen that anyone that finds me will try to kill me.

15 And the Lord said to him, If anyone kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark on Cain, so that anyone finding him would not kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and lived in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

18 And to Enoch was born Irad; and Irad became the father of Mehujael; and Mehujael became the father of Methusael; and Methusael became the father of Lamech.

19 And Lamech married two wives; the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

20 And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents, and of those who have herds.

21 And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those that handle the harp and pipe.

22 And Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the sharpener of every instrument of brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my words; for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for my bruising.

24 If Cain will be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and called his name Seth; For God has given me another seed instead of Abel, who Cain slew.

26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.

From GENESIS Chapter 4

Primitive Freemasonry. The Primitive Freemasonry of the antediluvians is term for which we are indebted to Oliver, although the theory was broached by earlier writers, and among them by the Chevalier Ramsey. The theory is, that the principles and doctrines of Freemasonry existed in the earliest of ages of the world, and were believed and practiced by a primitive people, or priesthood, under the name of Pure or Primitive Freemasonry; and that this Freemasonry, that is to say, the religious doctrine inculcated by it, philosophers and priests, and receiving the title of Spurious Freemasonry, was exhibited in the Ancient Mysteries. The Noachidae, however, preserved the principles of the Primitive Freemasonry, and transmitted them to succeeding ages, when at length they assumed the name of Speculative Masonry. The Primitive Freemasonry was probably without ritual or symbolism, and consisted only a series of abstract propositions derived from antediluvian traditions. Its dogmas were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. Dr. Oliver, who gave this system its name, describes it (Hist. Landm., i., p. 61,) in the following language. "It included a code of simple morals. It assured men that they who did well would be approved of God; and if they followed evil courses, sin would be imputed to them, and they would thus become subject to punishment. It detailed the reasons why the seventh day was consecrated and set apart as a Sabbath, or day of rest; and showed why the bitter consequences of sin were visited upon our first parents, as a practical lesson that it ought to avoided. But the great object if this Primitive Freemasonry was to preserve and cherish the promise a remedy for the evil that their transgression had introduced into the world, when the appointed time should come."

In his History of Initiations he makes the supposition that the ceremonies of this Primitive Freemasonry would be few and ostentatious, and consist, perhaps, like that of admission into Christianity, of a simple lustration, conferred alike on all, in the hope that they would practice the social duties of benevolence and good will to man, and unsophisticated devotion to God.

He does not, however, admit that the system of Primitive Freemasonry consisted only of those tenets which are to be found in the first chapters of Genesis, or that he intends, in his definition of this science, to embrace so general and indefinite a scope of all the principles of truth and light, as Preston has done in his declaration, that "from the commencement of the world(dawn of man), we may trace the foundation of Masonry." On the contrary, Oliver supposes that this Primitive Freemasonry included a particular and definite system, made up of legends and symbols, and confined to those who were initiated into its mysteries. The knowledge of these mysteries was of course communicated by God himself to Adam, and from him traditionally received by his descendants, throughout the patriarchal line.

The view of Oliver is substantiated by the remarks of Rosenberg, a learned French Mason, in an article in the Freemasons' Quarterly Review, on the Book of Raziel, an ancient Kabbalistic work, whose subject is these divine mysteries. "This book," says Rosenberg, "informs us that Adam was the first to receive these mysteries. Afterwards, when driven out of Paradise, he communicated them to his son Seth; Seth communicated them to Enoch; Enoch to Methuselah; Methuselah to Lamech; Lamech to Noah; Noah to Shem; Shem to Abraham; Abraham to Isaac; Isaac to Jacob; Jacob to Levi; Levi to Kelhoth; Kelhoth to Amram; Amram to Moses; Moses to Joshua; Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the Prophets; the Prophets to the Wise Men; and then from one down to another to Solomon."

Such, then, was the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry, the first system of mysteries which, according to modern Masonic writers of the school of Oliver, has descended, of course with various modifications, from age to age in a direct and uninterrupted line, to the Freemasons of the present day.

The theory is an attractive one, and may be qualifiedly adopted, if we may accept what appears to have the doctrine of Anderson, of Hutchinson, of Preston, and of Oliver, that the purer theosophic tenets of "the chosen people of God" were similiar to those subsequently inculcated in Masonry, and distinguished from the corrupted teaching of the Pagan religions as developed in the mysteries. But if we attemptto contend that there was among the Patriarchs any esoteric organization at all resembling the modern system of Freemasonry, shall we find no historical data on which we may rely for support.

Spurious Freemasonry. For this term, and for the theory connected with it, we are indebted to Dr. Oliver, whose speculations led him to the conclusion that in the earliest ages of the world there two systems of Freemasonry, the one of which preserved by the patriarches and their descendants, he called Primitive or Pure Freemasonry. The other, which was a schism from this system, he designated as the Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity. To comprehend this system of Oliver, and to understand his doctrine of the declension of the Spurious from the Primitive Freemasonry, we must remember that there two races of men descended from the loins of Adam, whose history is as different as their characters were dissimiliar. There was the virtuous race of Seth and his descendants, and the wicked one of cain. Seth and his children, down to Noah, preserved the dogmas and instructions, the legends and symbols, which had been recieved from their common progenitor, Adam; but Cain and his descendants, whose vices at length brought on the destruction of the earth, either totally forgot or greatly corrupted them. Their Freemasonry was not the same of that of Sethites. They distorted the truth, varied the landmarks to suit their own profane purposes. At length the two races became blended together. The descendants of Seth, becoming corrupted by their frequent communications with those of Cain, adopted their manners, and soon lost the principles of the Primitive Freemasonry, which at length was confined to Noah and his three sons, who alone, in the destruction of the wicked world, were thought worthy of recieving mercy. Noah consequently preserved this system, and was the medium of communicating it to the post-diluvian world. Hence, immediately after the deluge, Primitive Freemasonry was the only system extant.

But this happy state of affairs was not to last. Ham, the son of Noah, who had been accursed by his father for his wickedness, had been long familiar with the corruptions of the system of Cain, and with the gradual. deviations from truth which, through the influence of evil example, had crept into the system of Seth. After the deluge, he propagated the worst features of both systems among his immediate descendants. To sects or parties, so to speak, now arose in the world - one which preserved the great truths of religion, and consequently of Masonry, which had been handed down from Adam, Enoch, and Noah - and another which deviated more and more from this pure, original source. On the dispersion at the tower of Babel, the schism became still wider and more irreconcilable. The legends of Primitive Freemasonry were altered, and its symbols peverted to a false worship; the mysteries were dedicated to the worship of false gods and the practice of idolatrous rites, and in the place of the Pure of Primitive Freemasonry which continued to be cultivated among the patriarchal descendants of Noah, was established those mysteries of Paganism to which Dr. Oliver has given the name of the "Spurious Freemasonry."

It is not to Dr. Oliver, nor to any modern writer, that we are indebted for the idea of a Masonic schism in this early age of the world. The doctrine that Masonry was lost, that is to say, lost in its purity, to the larger portion of mankind, at the tower of Babel, is still preserved in the ritual of Ancient Craft Masonry. And in the degree of Noachites, a degree which is attached to the Scottish Rite, the fact is plainly adverted to as, indeed, the very foundation of the degree. Two races of Masons are there distinctly named, the Noachites and Hiramites; the former were the conservators of the Primitive Freemasonry as the descendants of Noah; the latter were the descendants of Hiram, who was himself of the race which had fallen into Spurious Freemasonry, but had reunited himself to the true sect at the building of King Solomon's Temple, as we shall hereafter see. But the inventors of the degree do not seem to have had any very precise notions in relation to this latter part of the history.

The mysteries, which constituted what has been thus called Spurious Freemasonry, were all more or less identical to character. Varying in a few unimportant particulars, attributable to the influence of local causes, their great similarity in all important points showeed their derivation from a common origin.

In the first place, they were communicated through a system of initiation, by which the aspirant was gradually prepared for the reception of their final doctrines; the rites were performed at night, and in the most retired situations, in caverns or amid the deep recesses of groves and forests; and the secrets were only communicated to the initated after the administration of an obligation. Thus, Firmicus (Astrol., lib. vii.,) tells that "when Orpheus explained the ceremonies of his mysteries to candidates, he demanded of them, at the very entrance, an oath, under the solemn saction of religion, that they would not betray the rites to profane ears." And hence, as Warburton says from Horus Apollo, the Egyptian hieroglyphic for the mysteries was a grasshopper, because that insect was supposed to have no mouth.

The ceremonies were all of a funeral character. Commencing in representations of lugubrious description, they celebrated the legend of the death and burial of some mythical being who was the especial object of their love and adoration. But these rites, thus beginning in lamentation, and typical of death always ended in joy. The object of their sorrow was restored to life and immortality of the soul and the existence of God.

Such, then, is the theory on the subject of what is called "Spurious Freemasonry," as taught by Oliver the desciples of his school. Primitive Freemasonry consisted of that traditional knowledge and symbolic instruction (primarily genetic engineering) which had been handed down from Adam, through Enoch, Noah, and the rest of the patriarchs, to the time of Solomon. Spurious Freemasonry consisted of the doctrines and initiations practiced at first by the antediluvian descendants of Cain, and, after the dispersion at Babel, by the Pagan priests and philosophers in their "Mysteries."

"Our contemporary Western society, in spite of its material, intellectual and political progress, is increasingly less conducive to mental health, and tends to undermine the inner security, "happiness"(whatever that means), reason and the capacity for "love"(whatever that means) in the individual; it tends to turn him into an automaton who pays for his human failure with increasing mental sickness, and with despair hidden under a frantic drive for work and so called pleasure."

Our "increasing mental sickness" may find expression in neurotic symptoms. These symptoms are conspicuous and extremely distressing. But "let us beware," says Dr. Fromm, "of defining mental hygiene as the prevention of symptoms. Symptoms as such are not our enemy, but our friend; where there are symptoms there conflict, and conflict always indicates the forces of life which strive for integration and happiness are still fighting." The really hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. "Many are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does." They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted, still cherish "the illusion of individuality," but in fact they have been to a great extent deindividualized. Their conformity is developing into something like uniformity. But "uniformity and freedom are incompatible. Uniformity and mental health are incompatible too....Man is not made to be an automaton, and if he becomes one, the basis for mental health is destroyed."

The symbolism of the crow

In the christian culture, the crow means nothing good. But you'll be surprised to see what he symbolizes in other civilisations.

A bad bird

The crow is seen as a negative omen only recently and mostly in Europe.

For the Celts, the crow was sacred and meant the flesh torn by fighting. As he eats carrion, the welsh poetry uses the metaphor "the crow pierced you" to say "you have died". They thought crows escorted the sun during his nocturnal path, that is to say in Hell. So they were a symbol of evil, contrary to swanns, symbolizing purity.

In Babylon, the crow was the name of the 13th month of the calendar, and he had a very negative value.

For the Greeks, the crow was too gossipy. That's why Athena replaced him with the owl, to stay with her. The crow was also devoted to Apollo. The god sent him to the aquatic world, to bring back water. The crow discovered a fig tree whose fruits were not ripe yet, so he waited near the tree to eat ripe figs instead of accomplishing his task . He was punished for his disobediance and egotism : Apollo placed him in the constellations, but the hydra prevented him from drinking the cup : he is condemned to thirst.

In the Bible, the crow is sent by Noah to search earth after the flood. But the crow didn't told Noé that the flood was finished. So he is considered selfish. Saint Golowin thought that in Paradise, the crows had multicoloured wings. But after Adam and Eve were driven away from the Paradise, the crows started to eat carrion. So they became black-feathered. At the end of time, the crows will find their beauty again and sing harmoniously to praise God.

In the Middle-Ages, it was said that crows neglect their young; as he eats carrions, he is seen as a bad omen.

In India, in the Mahâbhârata, the messengers of death are compared to crows. In Laos, the water soiled by crows can't be used for ritual purification.

The crow, symbol of the supreme God

It is mostly in nomadic civilisations (hunters and fishers) that the crow has a positive meaning. He lost this meaning with the sedentarisation and the agrarian developpement.

For Tlingit Indians (North-West of the Pacific), the crow is the main divine character. He organises the world, gives civilisation and culture, creates and frees the sun... For Haïda indians (North-western coast of the Canada), the crow will steal the sun from the sky's master, to give it to the earth's people. Raven has also a magic canoe : he can make it change its size, from the pine needle size, to big enough to contain the whole universe.In North America, he is the personnification of the Supreme Being. When he flaps his wings he creates the wind, the thunder and the lightning.

In Mithra's cult, he can fight evil spells.

Scandinavians legends show two crows, perched on Odin's seat : Hugi, the Spirit, and Munnin, the Memory. They symbolize the principle of creation. In the same way, these birds are the companions of Wotan ("the God with the crows").

The crow was sacred for the Celts. He was associated to the creation of Lugdunum (Lyon), city of the God Lug. Lug is the great solar god. He has the form of a crow and is assimilated to Apollo.

The crow is also in the Bible: he brings bead to man, alone in the desert.Prophet Elie, Saint Paul hermit, Saint Antoine... Saint Vincent had been defended by crows against the attack of carnivores; the crow is also seen at Saint Benoît's feet and in Saint Oswald's hands. Here, he symbolizes divine providence. He is also linked to Saints Boniface and Meinrad : their two tame crows allowed to find their corpses.

The crow has also a role in the asiatic mythology : in China and in Japan, he shows love and filial gratitude.According to chinese legends, ten red crows with three paws flew away from the East Blackberry Tree to bring light to the world. But they brought an unbearable heat to the Earth. Yi The Good Archer killed nine of them, and saved the world. The last Crow is now in the Sun.

So the crow is a solar symbol. He represents the creative principle.

Guide and messenger of the Gods

The major meaning of this black bird is to be a guide and the Gods' messenger.In Black Africa, the crow warns men that dangers are menacing them. The crow is their guide and a protector spirit.

For Mayas, he is the messenger of the God of lightning and thunder.

In Celtic civilisation, he has prophetic functions. Bodb, Goddess of the war, takes the form of a raven to observe the battlefields. The crows' fly and cawings told the future. The crow was also linked to Bran, God of the sailors (bran means crow in gaelic) : the sailors had crows on their boats. They released them at sea. They flied in the direction of the earth. The same idea is in the Bible (after the flood Noah released first a crow),in India and in Norway.

In Greece the crow foretold the future : a raven stood near the Pythie of Delphes during her prediction. It is generally said in Greece that the white crow guides messengers. This function of messenger of the Gods (especially Apollo's messenger), may have its origin in a greek legend. Coronis was unfaithful to Apollo, and a crow informed him. According to Ovide, the crow was originally white. Apollo made him become black to punish him for bringing bad news. Apollo even took a form of crow to guide Santorin's people to Cyrena. And two crows showed Alexander the Great the road to Amon's sanctuary.

Hugi and Munnin (Thought and Memory), are Odin's companions. In scandinavian mythology, they travel all over the world and come back to tell Odin all the events that happens on earth.

In the mithraic cult, Sol(the God Sun) entrust the crow with telling Mithra to sacrifice the bull.

In Japan, crows are also divine messengers, and in China they are the faerie queen Hsi-Wang-Mu's messengers. They also bring her food and are a good omen.

So we can say that the crow is a creator,a guide and a devine messenger. He also guides souls through their last travel and goes through the darkness without moving away from the road.

It is Allah's caDILLac of all slaves, an UBERMENSCH (a shapian/shapian).

Michaelle Noel from Hel ISTAN Carla Bruni.

In every system of antiquity there is a frequent reference to this number, showing that the veneration for it proceeded from some common cause. It is equally a sacred number in the Gentile as in the Christian religion. Oliver says that this can scarcely be ascribed to any event, except it be the institution of Sabbath. Higgins thinks that the peculiar circumstance, perhaps accidental, of the numbers of days of the week coinciding exactly with the number of the planetary bodies probably procured for its character of sanctity. The Pythagoras called it a perfect number, because it was made up of 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, which are the two perfect figures. They called it also a virgin number, and without mother, comparing it to Minerva, who was a motherless virgin, because it cannot by multiplication produce any number within ten, as twice two does four, and three times three does nine; nor can any two numbers, by their multiplication, produce it.

It is singular to observe the important part occupied by the number seven all the ancient systems. They were, for instance, seven ancient planets, seven Pleiades, and seven Hyades; seven altars burned continually before the god Mithras; the Arabians had seven holy temples; the Hindus supposed the world to be enclosed within the compass of seven peninsulas; the Goths has seven deities, viz, the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga, and Seatur, from whose names are derived our days of the week; in the Persian mysteries were seven spacious caverns, through which the aspirant had to pass; in the Gothic mysteries, the candidate met with seven obstructions, which were called the "road of the seven stages;" and, finally, sacrifices were always considered as most efficacious when the victims were seven number.

Much of the Jewish ritual was governed by this number, and the etymology of the word shows its sacred import, for the radical meaning of shabang, is says Parkhurts, sufficency or fulness. The Hebrew idea, therefore, like the Pythagorean, is that of perfection. To both the seven was a perfect number. Again: means to swear, because oaths were confirmed either by seven witnesses, or by seven victims offered in sacrifice, as we read in the covenant of Abraham and Abimelech. (Gen xxi. 28.) Hence, there is frequent recurrence to this number in the scriptural history. The Sabbath was the seventh day; Noah received seven days' notice of the commencement of the deluge, and was commanded to select clean beasts and fowls by sevens; seven persons accompanied him into the ark; the ark rested on Mount Ararat in the seventh month; the intervals between dispatching the dove were, each time, seven days; the walls of Jericho were encompassed seven days by seven priests, bearing rams' horns; Solomon was seven years building the Temple, which was dedicated in the seventh month, abd the festival lasted seven days;the candlestick in the tabernacle consisted of seven branches; and, finally, the tower of Babel was said to have been elevated seven stories before the dispersing.

Seven is a sacred number in Masonic symbolism. It has always been so. In the earliest rituals of the last century it was said that a Lodge required seven to make it perfect; but the only explanation that I can find in any of those rituals of the sacredness of the number is the seven liberal arts and sciences, which, according to the old "Legend of the Craft," were the foundation of Masonry. In modern ritualism the symbolism of seven has been transferred from the first to the second degree, ans there it is made to refer only to the seven steps of the Winding Stairs; but the symbolic seven is to be found diffuse in a hundred ways over the whole Masonic system.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The dove is the main Jubal Troglodyte emblem of wisdom (meaning, of course, themselves). The dove represents power, order and free-love (peace) by which the lower worlds are maintained.

The dove has long been accepted as "the" messenger of Jubal Troglodyte "divine" will and signifies their will as "Gods".

The name dove was first mentioned to Mason Priests, by the Trogs who orchestrated Oracles, at Delphi. They would shout up their instructions from their tunnels, at the bottom of dry wells, located in the mountain caves of eastern Greece.

The Greek name for dove was Iona (Jonah/John). It was the most sacred name and was universally accepted to mean "listen, here are orders direct from head office".

John, the Apostle of Love, was the "author" credited with the fourth Gospel and of the Apocalypse.

Lawrie, in his History of Freemasonry, in replying to the objection, that if the Fraternity of Freemasons had flourished during the reign of Solomon, it would have existed in Judea in after ages, attempts to meet the argument by showing that there did exist, after the building of the Temple, an association of men resembling Freemasons in the nature, ceremonies, and object of their institution. The association to he here alludes is that of the Essenes, whom he subsequently describes as an ancient Fraternity originating from an association of architects who were connected with the building of Solomon's Temple.

Lawrie evidently seeks to connect historically the Essenes with the Freemasons, and to impress his readers with the identity of the two Institutions. I am not prepared to go so far; but there is such a similarity between the two, and such remarkable coincidences in many of there usages, as to render this Jewish sect an interesting study to every Freemason, to whom therefore some account of the usages and doctrines of this holy brotherhood will not, perhaps be unacceptable.

At the time of the advent of Jesus Christ, there were three religious sects in Judea- the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes; and to one of these sects every Jew was compelled to unite himself. The Savior has been supposed by writers to have been an Essene, because, while repeatedly denouncing the errors of the two other sects, he has nowhere uttered a word of censure against the Essenes; and because, also many of the precepts of the New Testament are to found among the laws of this sect.

In ancient authors such as Josephus, Philo, Porphyry, Eusebius, and Pliny, who have had occasion to refer to the subject, the notices of this singular sect have been so brief and unsatisfactory, that modern writers have found great difficulty in properly understanding the true character of Essenism. And yet our antiquaries, never weary of the task of investigation, have at length, within a recent period, succeeded in eliciting, from the collation of all that has been previously wriiten on the subject, very correct details of the doctrines and practices of the Essenes.

Of these writers, none, I think, have been more successful than the laborious German critics Frankel and Rappaport. their investigations have been ably and throughly condensed by Dr. Christian D. Ginsburg, whose essay on The Essenes, their History and Doctrines, (Lond., 1864,) has supplied the most material facts contained in the present article.

It is impossible to ascertain the precise date of the development of Essenism as a distinct organization. The old writers are so exaggerated in their statements, that they are worth nothing as historical authorities . Philo says, for instance, that Moses himself instituted the order, and Josephus that it existed ever since the ancient time of the Fathers; while Pliny asserts, with mythical liberality, that it has continued for thousands of ages. Dr. Ginsburg thinks that Essenism was agradual development of the prevalent religous notions out of Judaism, a theory which Dr. Dillinger repudiates. But Rappaport, who was a learned Jew, throughly conversant with the Talmud and other Hebrew writings, and who is hence called by Ginsburg "the corypheus of Jewsih critcs," asserts that the Essenes were not a distinct sect, in the strict sense of the word, but simply an order of Judaism, and that there never was a rupture between them and the rest of the Jewish community. This theory is sustained by Frankel, a learned German, who maintains that the Essenes were simply an intensification of the Pharisaic sect, and that they were the same as the Chasidim, whom Lawrie calls the Kassideans, and of whom he speaks as the guardians of King Solomon's Temple. If this view is the correct one, and there is no good reson to doubt it, then there will be another feature of resemblance and coincidence between the Freemasons and the Essenes; for, as the latter was a religous sect, but merely a development of Judaism, an order of Jews entertaining no heterodox opinions, but simply carrying out the religiousdogmas off their faith with an unusal strictness of observance, so are the Freemasons not a religous sect, but simply a development of the religous idea of the age. The difference, however, between Freemasonry and Essenism lies in the spirit of universal tolerance prominent in the one and absent in the other. Freemasonry is Christian as to its membership in general, but recognizing and tolerating in its bosom all other religous: Essenism, on the contrary, was exclusively and intensely Jewish in its membership, its usages, and its doctrines.

The Essenes are first mentioned by Josephus as existing in the days of Jonathan the Maccabaean, one hunddred and sixty-six years before Christ. The Jewish historian repeatedly speaks of them at subsequent periods; and there is no doubt that they constituted one of the three sects which divided the Jewish religous world at the advent of the Saviour, and of this sect, he is supposed, as has been already said, to have been a member.

On this subject, Ginsburg says: "Jesus, who in all things conformed to the Jewish law, and who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and seperate from sinners, would, therefore naturally associate himself with that order of Judaism which was most congenial to his holy nature. Moreover, the fact that Christ, with the exception of once, was not heard of in public till his thirtieth year, implying that he lived in seclusion with this Fraternity, and that, though he frequently rebuked the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes, strongly confirms this decision." But he admits that Christ neither adopted nor preached their extreme doctrines of asceticism.

After the establishment of Christianity, the Essenes fade out of notice, and it has been supposed that they were one of the earliest converts to the new faith. Indeed, De Quincey rather paradoxically asserts that they were a diguised portion of the early Christians.

The etomology of the word has not been settled. Yet, among the contending opinions, the preferable one seems to be that it is derived from the Hebrew CHASID, - holy, pious, - which preceded them, and of whom Lawrie says, (quoting from Scaliger,) that they were "an order of the KNIGHTS OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM, who bound themselves to adorn the porches of that magnificent structure, and to preserve it from injury and decay."

The Essenes were so strict in the observance of the Mosaic laws of purity, that they were compelled, for the purpose of avoiding contamination to withdraw altogether from the rest of the Jewish nation and form a seperate community, which thus became a brotherhood. The same scruple which led them to withdraw from their less strict Jewsih brethren induced most of them to abstain from marriage, and hence the unavoidable depletion of their membership by death could only be repaired by the initiation of converts. They had a common treasury, in which was deposited whatever anyone of them possessed, and from this the wants of the whole community were suppiled by stewards appointed by the brotherhood, so that they had everything in common. Hence there was no distinction among them rich and poor, or masters and servants; but the only graduation of rank which they recognized was derived from the degrees or orders into which the members were divided, and which depened on holoness alone. They lived peacably with all men, reprobrated slavery and war, and would not even manufacture any warlike instruments. They were governed by a president, who was elected by the whole community; and members who violated theur rules were, after due trial, excommunicated or expelled.

As they held no communication outside of their own fraternity, they had to raise their own supplies, and some were engaged in tilling, some tending flocks, others in making clothing, and others preparing food. They got up before sunrise, and, after singing a hymn of praise for the return of light, which they did with their faces turned to the east, each one repaired to his appropiate task. At the fifth hour or eleven in the forenoon, the morning labour terminated. The brethren then again assembled, and after a lustration in cold water, they put on white garments and proceeded to the reflectory, where they partook of the most frugal character. A mysterious silence was observed during this meal, which, to some extent, had the character of a sacrament. The feast being ended, and the priest having returned thanks, the brethen withdrew and put off their white garments, resumed their working-clothes and their several employments until evening, when they again assembled as before, to partake of a common meal.

They observed the Sabbath with more than Judaic strictness, regarding even the removal of a vessel as a desecration of the holy day. On that day, each took his seat in the synagogue in becoming attire; and, as they had no ordained ministers, any one that liked read out of the Scriptures, and another, experienced in spiritual matters, expounded the passges that been read. The distictive ordinaces of the brotherhood of the mysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton and the angelic worlds were the prominent topics of Sabbatical instruction. In particular, did they pay attention to the mysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton, or the Shem hamphorash, the expository name, and the other names of God which play so important a part in the mystical theosophy of the Jewish Kabbalists, a great deal of which has descended to the Freemasonry of our own days.

Josephus describes them as being distinguished for their brotherly love, and for their charity and helping the needy, and showing mercy. He says that they are just dispensers of their anger, curbers of their passions, representative of fidelity, ministers of peace, and every word with them is of more force than an oath. They avoid taking an oath, and regard it as worse than pejury; for they say that he who is not believed without calling on God to witness, is already condemned of pejury. He also states that they studied with great assiduity the writings of the ancients on distempers and their remedies, alluding, as it is supposed, to the magical works imputed by the Talmudists to Solomon.

It has already been observed that, in consequence of the celibacy of the Essenes, it was found necessary to recruit their ranksby the introduction of converts, who were admitted by a solid form of initation. The candidate, or aspirant, was required to pass through a noviate of two stages, which extended over three years, before he was admitted to full participation in the privledges of the Order. Upon entering the first stage, which lasted for twelve months, the novice cast all his possesions into the common treasury. He then recieved a copy of the regulations of the brotherhood, and was presented with a spade, an apron, and a white robe. The spade was employed to bury excrement, the apron was used at the daily lustrations, and the white robe was worn as symbol of purity. During all this period the aspirant was considered as being outside the order, and, although required to observe some the ascetic rules of the society, he was admitted to the common meal. At the end of the probationary year, the aspirant, if approved, was advanced to the second stage, which lasted two years, and was then called an approacher. During this period he was permitted to unite with the brethren in their lustrations, but was not admitted to the common meal, nor to hold any office. Should this second stage of probation be passed with approval, the approacher became an associate, and was admitted into full membership, and at length allowed to partake of the common meal.

There was a third rank or degree, called the disciple or companion, in which there was still closer union. Upon admission to this highest grade, the candidate was bound by a solemn oath to love God, to be just to all men, to practice charity, maintain truth, and to conceal the secrets of the society and the mysteries connected with the Tetragammaton and the other names of God.

These three sections or degrees, of aspirant, associate, and companion, were subdivided into four orders or ranks, distinguished from each other by different degrees of holiness; and so marked were these distinctions, that if one belonging to higher degree of purity touched one of a lower order, he immediatly became impure, and could only regain his purity by a series of lustrations.

The earnestness and determination of those Essenes, says Ginsburg, to advance to the highest state of holiness, were seen in their self denying and godly life, and it may fairly be questioned whether any religous system has ever produced such a community of saints. Their absolute confidence in God and resignation to the dealings of Providence; their uniformly holy and unselfish life; their unbounded love of virtue and utter contempt for worldy fame, riches and pleasure; their industry temperance, modesty, and simplicity of life; their contentment of mind and cheerfulness of temper; their love of order, and abhorreence of even the semblance of falsehood; their benevolence and philanthropy; their love for the brethren; and their following peace with all men; their hatred of slavery and war; their tender regard for children; and reverous and anxious care for the aged; their attendance on the sick,and readiness to relieve the distressed; their humility and magnanimity; their firmness of character and power to subdue their passions; their heroric endurance under the most agonizing sufferings for righteousness' sake; and their cheerfully looking forward to death, as releasing their immortal souls from the bonds of the body, to be forever in a state of bliss with their Creator, - have hardly found parallel in the history of mankind.

Lawrie, in his History of Freemasonry, gives, on the authority of Pictet, of Basnage, and of Philo, the following condensed recapititulation of what has been said in the preceding pages of the usages of the Essenes:

"When a candidate was proposed for admission, the strictest scrutiny was made into his character. If his life had hitherto been exemplary and if he appeared capable of curbing his passions, and regulating his conduct according to the virtuous, through austere, maxims of their order, he was presented, at the expirationof his novitiate, with a white garment as an emblem of the regularuty of his conduct and the purity of his heart. A solomn oath was then administered to him, that he would never divulge the mysteries of the Order; that he would make no immovations on the doctrines of the society; and that he would continue in that honorable course of piety and virtue which he had begun to pursue. Like Freemason, they instructed the young member in the knowledge which they derived from their ancestors. They admitted no women into their order. They had particular signs for recognizing each other, which have strong resemblance to those of Freemasons. They had colleges or places of retirement, where they resorted to practicetheir rites and settle the affairs of the society; and, after the performance of these duties, they assembled in a large hall, where an entertainment was provided for them by the president or master of the college, who alotted a certain quantity of provisions to every individual. They abolished all distinctions of rank; and if preference was ever given, it was given to piety, liberality, and virtue. Treasures were appointed in every town, to supply the wants of indigent strangers."

Lawrie thinks this remarkable coincidence between the chief features of the Masonic and Essenian fraternities can be accounted for only by referring them to the same origin; and, to sustain this view, he attempts to trace to the Kassideans, or Assideans, more properly the Chasidm, "an association of architects who were connected with the building of Solomon's Temple." But, aside from the consideration that there is no evidence that the Chasidim were a body of architects, - for they were really a sect of Jewish puritans, who held the Temple in especial honor, - we cannot conclude, from a mere coincidence of doctrines and usages, that the origin of the Essenes and the Freemasons is identical. Such a course of reasoning would place the Pythagoreans in the same category: a theory that has been rejected by the best modern critics.

The truth appears to be that the Essenes, the School of Pythagoras, and the Freemasons, derive their similarity from that spirit of brotherhood which has prevailed in all ages of the civilized world (Hindu/Persian/Zoroastrian/Zorrobabel/Freemasonry), the inherent principles of which, as the results any fraternity, - all the members of which are engaged in the same pursuit and assenting to the samr religous creed, - are brotherly love, charity,[System of morality veiled in allegory] and that secrecy which gives them their exclusiveness. And hence, between all fraternities, ancient and modern these remarlable coindcidences will be found.

If you care, you may contribute to a "Help Jenny visit Canada" fund by making a contribution online to her Pay Pal address: jenaebdncr@gmail.com

P.S: For those Americans among you who would like to donate to Jennifer yet retain your anonymity, you may purchase an international money order in U.S. currency at any post office in America (if you still live in the U.S.). Under the sender's name you will write "Minnie-Mouse Movement" so as to retain your anonymity. Send to: P.O. Box 774, Kemptville, Ontario, Canada K0G 1J0. The money order should be addressed to: Jennifer Ann Kealey. Donations in the amounts of $25, $50, or $75 would be helpful in assisting Jennifer to visit her husband Glen on a regular weekend visit to Canada. A total sum of $15,000 plus, which is the suggested sum of the “kick back/ransom” required (by CBSA Immigration officer badge #16182)on behalf of CIC Immigration, Jason Kenney, minister is apparently required to begin the process of her husband sponsoring her permanent visitor status. They, CIC, have refused her entry under the spousal sponsorship four times in the last two years before allowing 2 visits recently.

About Me

The information presented on this site from 2008 onward is evidence that I have come across working with the "PREMISE" provided by Glen Kealey National President Canadian Institute for Political Integrity (CIPI) which he describes on his website (wordsculptor.net) It is also findings I have come across after disseminating postings from Glen Kealey and observing things in my own life.